Terranea Blog

Terranea is One of Los Angeles’ First Resorts to Implement Food Waste Recycling Program

Continuing our passionate commitment to eco-friendly practices, Terranea has become one of the first Los Angeles resorts to install a Food Waste Recycling Program.
Read below for all the details on the program.

Terranea Resort has collaborated with Waste Management to expand its commitment to sustainability and green practices by including food waste recycling. The new food waste recycling program will increase the amount of waste reused by 50 percent!

Terranea boasts one of the most comprehensive recycling programs in the Los Angeles area. The 102-acre resort, located in Rancho Palos Verdes, will send its food waste to the Waste Management facility in Lancaster, Calif., which is developing new technologies that utilize food waste as a feedstock to produce renewable biogas fuels and other valuable products as part of the Reclaimable Anaerobic Composter (RAC) project. The RAC will produce valuable biogas that may be used for low-carbon transportation fuels, such as compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas or transformed to electricity by internal combustion engines, and will produce a beneficial compost or soil amendment product.

The RAC enables WM to provide their customers with a cost-effective alternative for diverting food waste from disposal and to participate in a new and exciting sustainable technology. Terranea Resort is working with Waste Management to increase the resort’s quantity of recyclable material collected by at least 50 percent, adding food waste recycling and enhancing their recycling capacity. By the end of the program’s inaugural year, the team estimates that one thousand tons of the resort’s food waste alone will have been recycled. “Working with businesses like Terranea Resort to develop new solutions to expand their sustainability initiatives is gratifying,” said Larry Metter, Area Vice President of Waste Management of Southern California. We thrive on realizing successes such as what we’re seeing at the resort as it keeps making its operations greener.”

The resort’s food waste will be collected by natural gas-powered vehicles and resort guests will have both trash and recycling receptacles in their rooms as well as various locations on the property, giving them an opportunity to participate in the sustainability program, as well. “Terranea is committed to embracing innovative solutions that inspire guests and develop a greater degree of environmental awareness,” said Sonny Cataldo, Director of Engineering of Terranea Resort. “From the start, we understood the importance of incorporating sustainable materials, technology, and methods that could not only minimize the ecological footprint of the Resort, but also plant a seed for others and provide a model guided by the ecological sustainability. We are excited to begin seeing an even greater impact as a result of this new diversion program with Waste Management.